President Muhammadu Buhari yesterday moved to end the lingering scarcity of fuel in the country by setting up a steering committee directly headed by him.
The 14-member committee with Minister of State for Petroleum Resource Chief Timipre Sylva as the alternate chairman is to ensure transparent, efficient supply and distribution of petroleum products, especially fuel, nationwide.
The committee is also to guarantee proper management of national strategic stock, rehabilitation of the nation’s refineries and end-end tracking of petroleum products, especially fuel to ascertain daily national consumption and eliminate smuggling.
Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, Central Bank of Nigeria(CBN), Governor, Godwin Emefiele; Chairman of the Economic Crimes Commission(EFCC) AbduRasheed Bawa; Director-General, Department of State Services (DSS), Yusuf Magaji Bichi; Comptroller-General, Nigerian Customs Service (NCS), Ahmed Alli and Commandant-General, Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC, Ahmed Audi. are some of the members.
Others are Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Petroleum Resources, Gabriel Aduda; National Economic Adviser to the President, Doyin Salami; Group Chief Executive Officer, Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited’ Mele Kyari; Chief Executive, Nigerian Midstream and Member Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA), ), Farouk Ahmed; as well as the Special Advisor (Special Duties) and Technical Advisor (Midstream) to the Minister of State.
Sylva, in a statement by his Senior Adviser on Media and Communications, Horatius Egua, directed the NMDPRA to ensure that the NNPC Limited meets the domestic fuel and other petroleum product needs across states of the federation.
He also said that the interests of ordinary Nigerians must be protected from price exploitation.
“The Federal Government will not allow misguided elements to bring untold hardship upon the citizenry and attempt to discredit government’s efforts in consolidating the gains made thus far in the oil and gas sector of the economy,” warned.
